Push to criminalise parental abductions.

To-day in the Australian media, it has been reported that The Family Law Reform Association of New South Wales is calling on the Federal Government to make it a crime for a parent to take a child out of Australia without the other parent's consent.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/23/2751175.htm?section=australia

Always is not forever, relationships break down., and if the break down is nasty and one of high conflict, there is a high probability that any children born of the relationship will become a pawn in an awful game of power and sheer spitefulness.

In extreme cases, either one of the parents will abduct the child, taking the child out of their homelands and away from everything they have ever known and loved..

Parental abductions has to be one of the world's most mis-understood crimes. The assumption that the child is with a parent, so they are ok, is not to be believed. Just because a child has been abducted by a parent, does not make the abduction acceptable.

Public perception is usually one of the abductee running from an abusive partner, running to protect themselves and their child. We are not naive, we understand that in some situations, the abducting parent could be in this situation.

However, the vast majority of left behind parents are not in any way a threat to the abducted child, and never were an abusive partner. Even when abuse has taken place, there are many other remedies that are far more effective than abducting the child across international borders.

The child is the victim in these situations, and the child should be the centre of all our focus. What level of normality can a child who is the victim of parental abduction expect to have? What lies are told to these children about why they can no longer see their other parent and family members? That their mother or their father is dead? That their mother or father doesn’t love them? That their mother or father abandoned them?

The biggest motive for parental child abduction is revenge, making this type of abduction one of the worse types to deal with. It is not about love – it is about power and control.

International Parental Child Abduction, is a growing epidemic that is spreading from one continent to another as our social structures and international border controls become looser. An epidemic that the majority of us are not educated about, until we learn the hard way, by experiencing it. Until our lives and those of our families and friends are catapulted into a catastrophic spiral downturn, turned into a living nightmare, a life of turmoil and anguish with no where to turn, for emotional, legal or financial support.

International Parental Child Abduction is an extreme form of child abuse. Society , in general does not condone any form of child abuse so, what makes this form any different? Why isn’t more being done by governments around the world to prevent it from happening and to find abducted children so they can be safely reunited with their other parent?.

Many governments don’t even comply with their international legal obligations under the provisions of the Hague Convention. This must change!

What makes International Parental Child Abduction and the alienation of the child from its other parent so serious is that it’s a “parent”, who is causing the harm. It’s the behaviour of a “parent”, someone the child trusts, that is damaging the child’s mental and emotional well-being. The child is usually manipulated into believing that a loving parent is a “monster”, someone who will hurt them, someone that they should stay away from.

This manipulation and alienation denies the child of its human right to to have a relationship with both of their parents. Understandably, in the majority of cases, the child becomes confused and frightened, as the lies of the abducting parent rob them of the security and safety that is so needed by every child. These feeling’s of insecurity and fear lead to life-long emotional and psychological problems. Children who are victims of parental child abductions develop serious psychological disorders as they grow older at a far higher rate than other children of the same of age.

Putting the emotive side of this issue aside, parental child abduction is a CRIME, even if the child is your own. The parent who has taken the child , has done so illegally, and in the majority of these cases an arrest warrant will be in place. Abducting parents can face lengthy prison sentences when they are captured, which further damages the child.

Lets help the children who are victims of these crime, by educating ourselves about parental alienation and the impact it has on the innocent victims.

Please get behind this issue, raise awareness to it, in many countries this act is not recognised as a crime, put pressure on Governement agencies to reevaluate their stance in this issue, do the right thing, help make a difference.